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Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Retrospective #24: But What About Cholesterol?

What about
cholesterol? What about dietary
cholesterol? Again, quoting from WAPF’s Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD, authors
in 2000 of “The Skinny on Fats: “Here, too, the public has been misinformed.
Our blood vessels can become damaged in a number of ways—through irritations
caused by free radicals or viruses, or because they are structurally weak—and
when this happens, the body's natural healing substance steps in to repair the
damage. That substance is cholesterol. Cholesterol is a high-molecular-weight
alcohol that is manufactured in the liver and in most human cells. Like
saturated fats, the cholesterol we make
and consume plays many vital roles:

Along with saturated fats, cholesterol in the cell membrane gives
our cells necessary stiffness and stability. When the diet contains an
excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids, these replace saturated fatty acids
in the cell membrane, so that the cell walls actually become flabby. When
this happens, cholesterol from the blood is "driven" into the
tissues to give them structural integrity. This is why serum cholesterol
levels may go down temporarily when we replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated
oils in the diet.46

Cholesterol acts as a precursor to vital
corticosteroids, hormones that help us deal with stress and protect the
body against heart disease and cancer; and to the sex hormones like
androgen, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.

Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D, a very
important fat-soluble vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous system,
proper growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production,
reproduction and immune system function.

The bile salts are made from cholesterol. Bile is
vital for digestion and assimilation of fats in the diet.

Recent research shows that cholesterol acts as an
antioxidant.47 This is the likely explanation for the fact that cholesterol
levels go up with age. As an antioxidant, cholesterol protects us against
free radical damage that leads to heart disease and cancer.

Cholesterol is needed for proper function of
serotonin receptors in the brain.48 Serotonin is the body's natural "feel-good" chemical.
Low cholesterol levels have been linked to aggressive and violent
behavior, depression and suicidal tendencies.

Mother's milk is especially rich in cholesterol
and contains a special enzyme that helps the baby utilize this nutrient.
Babies and children need cholesterol-rich foods throughout their growing
years to ensure proper development of the brain and nervous system.

Dietary cholesterol plays an important role in maintaining the
health of the intestinal wall.49 This is why low-cholesterol vegetarian diets can lead to leaky gut
syndrome and other intestinal disorders.

Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease but rather a potent
antioxidant weapon against free radicals in the blood, and a repair substance
that helps heal arterial damage (although arterial plaques themselves contain very
little cholesterol.) However, like fats, cholesterol may be damaged by exposure
to heat and oxygen. This damaged or oxidized cholesterol seems to promote
injury to the arterial cells as well as a buildup of plaque in the arteries.50

Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered eggs, in powdered milk (added
to reduced-fat milks to give them body) and in meats and fats that have been
heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes. High
serum cholesterol levels often indicate that the body needs cholesterol to
protect itself from high levels of altered, free-radical-containing fats. Just
as a large police force is needed in a place where crime occurs frequently, so
cholesterol is needed in a poorly nourished body to protect the individual from
a tendency to heart disease and cancer. Blaming coronary heart disease on
cholesterol is like blaming the police for murder and theft in a high crime area.”
End of long quote. Note: all the footnotes are in the Weston A. Price article,
“The Skinny on Fats.”

To add insult to
injury, remember that our own liver and cells make cholesterol to “make up” for
all those good foods (eggs, butter, cream, marbled beef, shrimp, liver, etc.)
that we avoid eating to follow doctor’s orders. It has too. Our body needs cholesterol to do the things
described above, and it works holistically to get what it needs. It’s a good
thing too. Imagine if the human race were dependent for survival on the
vagaries of a government’s public health policies. I’ll take autonomic
homeostatic regulation over the Dietary Guidelines for Americans any day.

About Me

I was diagnosed a Type 2 diabetic in 1986. I started a Very Low Carb diet (Atkins Induction) in 2002 to lose weight. I didn’t realize at the time that it would put my diabetes in clinical remission, or that I would be able to give up almost all of my oral diabetes meds. I also didn’t understand that, as I lost weight and continued to eat Very Low Carb, my blood lipids would dramatically improve (doubling my HDL and cutting my triglycerides by 2/3rds) and that my blood pressure would drop from 130/90 to 110/70 on the same meds.
Over the years I changed from Atkins to the Bernstein Diet (designed for diabetics) and, altogether lost 170 pounds. I later regained some and then lost some. As long as I eat Very Low Carb, I am not hungry and I have lots of energy. And I no longer have any of the indications of Metabolic Syndrome.
My goal, as long as I have excess body fat, is to remain continuously in a ketogenic state, both for blood glucose regulation and continued weight loss. I expect that this regimen will continue to provide the benefits of reduced systemic inflammation, improved blood lipids and lower blood pressure as well.